You are here:Home→World News→NSA spied on Turkish leaders, book claims

NSA spied on Turkish leaders, book claims

Monday, March 31, 2014

New book on the Snowden leaks says U.S. monitored Turkey's leaders’ communications.

BERLIN – America's National Security Agency monitored the communications of Turkey’s leaders, as well as dozens of other world leaders, according to a new book “Der NSA Komplex”.

Released on Monday in Germany, the work by Spiegel journalists Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark includes details of National Security Agency documents provided to the German weekly by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

According to one agency document titled “National Intelligence Priorities Framework”, the U.S. spied on the leaders of its allies and adversaries to obtain information on their intentions, including foreign policy objectives and financial and economic situations.

The agency grouped countries into different ranks according to their importance for U.S. national interests and intelligence priorities of the U.S. President.

The group ranked “1” was entitled “Top priorities of the U.S. President” and included surveillance activities targeting countries such as Iran, Russia, China and Pakistan.

Another document dated April 9, 2013, covered in the book, entitled “High intelligence priorities of the U.S. President” included information on the political leaderships of close allies such as Turkey and Israel.

The book also disclosed that the U.S. National Security Agency monitored communications of 33 embassies and diplomatic missions on U.S. soil, including European Union offices in New York and Washington and the embassies of Turkey, Greece, France and Italy.